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My family and I love Arkansas. My husband grew up there, and has family there- we visit every chance we get. We really want to live in Hot Springs, but there are no jobs there for my husband. He has found a good opportunity in Little Rock, though- so I have a few questions.

-Are there any areas outside the city that have a more small town feel?
- Areas with good schools are a must, we have 6 kids.
- We want an area that has a lot of young families and lots of things for kids to do.
- Our budget I'm thinking is about $300k, or $1700/month.
- Are there many homes for lease?
- We would like a more conservative area- currently we live near Austin but definitely do not fit in, and are not looking to live somewhere like that.
- We love being outdoors, so natural beauty is important- I don't want to live somewhere that is flat and without trees.

Well, that about sums up my wishlist haha.

Can anyone tell me which areas would probably work best for us? We will probably be visiting in June, and would like to find some areas to check out.

Hi! Congrats on the new job opportunities for your husband! I am actually a mom, a real estate agent in Little Rock, and I have lived in central Arkansas my entire life, so hopefully I can offer some helpful suggestions.

First off, you shouldn’t have ANY problem not seeing anything flat without trees in central Arkansas--in the words of a cousin of mine who was visiting one summer, “I feel like I’m driving through a hedge.” ;-)

The first area/city that comes to my mind after reading through your wishlist is Bryant. It is known around here for having a great school system--and you can definitely find a very nice home there for $300,000. OH, and the best part of all--the commute from Bryant to downtown Little Rock is only 20 minutes without traffic!! In fact, when you move here, you will probably be surprised at how many people ya’ll work with in Little Rock actually live in the Bryant area!

The next area is a community called “East End” and it is south of Little Rock about 15 miles. It has the small town feel, for sure, but again, 90% of residents commute to Little Rock. From East End to downtown LR, it is 25 minutes. It hit a lot of things on your wishlist, so I would definitely recommend checking it out. It falls under Sheridan Schools, which, again, is a nice school system.

Those are really my top picks. There are lots of other great areas out there, so I’ll let other people weigh in on those.

Best of luck to you guys! Feel free to ask any questions--I’ll help if I can!